Review of new opera releases

Updated 4:44 pm, Thursday, July 18, 2013

Directors who tinker with the composer/librettist's original artistic intentions run the risk of compromising, even destroying the artistic unity of an opera.

Yet sometimes our experience is enhanced. This season's new opera releases on DVD and CD cover a wide range of hits and misses.

David McVicar's update of Wagner's "Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg" (Opus Arte DVD) to the 19th century is a hit. McVicar creates a stage full of colorful characters, particularly a young, yet thoughtful Hans Sachs, intelligently portrayed by Gerald Finley. With him in this Glyndebourne production are Anna Gabler as a charming Eva and Johannes Martin Kränzle as a stuffy Beckmesser. Marco Jentzsch, a less stuck-up Walther, is vocally on the light side of the role. Vicki Mortimer's warm sets and costumes are pleasing.

The Met's new "Rigoletto" (DG DVD), set in Las Vegas in the early 1960s, raised eyebrows at first, but it works better on disc: Verdi's dark tale is not lost and close camera work highlights the characters' sorrows and joys while hiding staging flaws more evident in the opera house. Zeljko Lucic's Rigoletto is a hulking fellow, Diana Damrau is Gilda, his nervous, overprotected daughter, and Piotr Beczala, the Duke, is a smooth, "connected" casino owner.

Meyerbeer's rarely staged "Les Huguenots" (ArtHaus DVD) is worth investigating despite the update from Paris 1572, to maybe 1972? Still relevant: religious strife never seems to go away. Taped in 1991 from the Deutsche Oper Berlin, sung in German, the performance was a "star is born" night for tenor Richard Leech as Raoul, a Protestant who loves Valentine, a Catholic, sung by Lucy Peacock. Both are massacred on St. Bartholomew's Day. Magarethe von Valois is tellingly sung by Angela Denning.

"Palestrina" (Unitel Classics DVD), Hans Pfitzner's brooding, mostly introspective drama, is ill-served by Christian Stückl's vibrantly colored, garish update to the present. What's the point? The real Palestrina heroically preserved contrapuntal music in 1565 in the face of papal edicts, but it's hardly an issue today. Pfitzner's case is strong enough, certainly not "enhanced" by a stretch limo and a singing statue. Christopher Ventris is an intensely suffering Palestrina. Falk Struckmann is Carlo Boromeo, and Simone Young conducts.

Director Claus Guth conceives Dukas' "Ariane et Barbe-bleu" (Opus Arte DVD) as playing out in an insane asylum headed by Bluebeard. His former wives are the inmates. The unit set, the inescapably dreary yet tense atmosphere, and the constricted range of the vocal writing can get tiresome, but the spirit is right. Fans of the opera (I am one) will find this performance satisfying. Ariane, sung by Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, raises the young women up to freedom, but in the end she departs alone. Jose van Dam is Barbe-bleu; Patricia Bardon is effective as the Nurse.

Massenet's "Cendrillon" showcases Joyce DiDonato's soulful Cinderella, graced by a heavenly Eglise Gutierrez as the Fairy and a tender Alice Coote as Prince Charming. Director Laurent Pelly's stylish but sometimes dark production mutes the opulence, but delivers on the personalities of characters. DiDonato also shines among the stars (Danielle de Niese, David Daniels, Placido Domingo) in the lavish Baroque pastiche from the Met's "The Enchanted Island" (both on Virgin Classics DVD).

Noting that Giuditta Pasta, the first Norma in 1831, was probably more like a mezzo, Cecilia Bartoli revisits Bellini's masterpiece in "authentic" style (Decca CD) -- a critical edition of Bellini's score, period instruments, original tuning and vocal registers and adjusted tempi. The results are ear-opening. Happily, the totality is dramatically and musically a hit. Bartoli's darker voice suits Norma's gravity; soprano Sumi Jo is a young Adalgisa.

Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" (Decca DVD) still mixes clowns and tragedians, but director Philippe Arlaud moves the drama into the early 20th with no appreciable damage. Renee Fleming brings depth to Ariadne and Sophie Koch, as the Composer, is wonderfully conflicted and desperate. Conductor Christian Thielemann stamps his authority on the score.

Verdi's "I Masnadieri" is also rarely staged. Gabriele Lavia's production at San Carlo in Naples (Unitel Classics DVD) moves a drama from the early 1700s to a time of black trench coats and automatic pistols. It suits this baleful opera: Aquiles Machado is a troubled, forceful Carlo; Artur Rucinski is his treacherous, hateful brother Francesco. Lucrecia Garcia is the misled, ultimately murdered Amalia.

Lastly, Wagner's "Ring" from De Nederlandse Opera in 1999 (Opus Arte DVD) is well sung and finely conducted by Hartmut Haenchen. A solid listening experience to be sure, but designer George Tsypin's "sets," mostly tubular platforms, lights and rafters, defeat the many natural scenic wonders in "Ring." Jeannine Altmeyer is impressive as Brünnhilde; Heinz Kruse is light but tight as Siegfried; Nadine Secunde is Sieglinde; John Keyes is a dark-voiced Siegmund.

Jerry Sehulster is a freelance writer who lives in Stamford; jsehulster@att.net.